The Great Divide
by amishgirl281
Summary: From the best of friends spawns the deepest hatred. They'd been friends since they were young, they told each other everything, not even their deepest secrets were kept from one another. It's strange how a train ride and an old hat can change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**_So I was messing around with some of my stories and I accidentally_****_ deleted this one thinking it was one of my other stories. So now I'm posting it again :) And just to reiterate, this story is the back story that I have in my head when I talk about what went on with Sirius and Severus and Lily when they were children in BV. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please Read and Review!_**

* * *

><p>He held his mothers hand as they walked along the crowded streets of Diagon Alley. People were everywhere crowding the bookshops and Quidditch stores. His mother had said that the next Hogwarts term would be starting soon and that's why there were so many people here. Little Severus smiled, he would be getting his Hogwarts letter in a year and he couldn't wait.<p>

His mother would sometimes sit up lat at night, after his father had went to bed, and tell him stories of her Hogwarts days. She had been in Slytherin and it sounded like heaven from the way she described it. Only people of power, skill, and cunning were in that house. She hadn't met father there though. In fact, she hadn't met father in the wizarding world at all.

He was a muggle. A muggle that hated wizards.

That's why he wasn't here today, but Severus didn't really care. It was nice to have an afternoon away from home, nice to be among the people who shared his interests and his talents.

He squeezed his mothers hand when they passed by the bookstore and stopped dead in his tracks. She felt his hand tug and squeeze hers and turned back to him. "Yes, Severus?"

"Mother, we passed the bookstore." He told her innocently.

She smiled and shook her head, but they began backtracking towards the store. He loved going into Flourish and Blotts and today was no exception. A far away bell tinkled as they plowed their way into the crowded shop. Students were everywhere, dressed in their Hogwarts robes, getting their books for the new term. He struggled to make his way through the crowd and into the back of the store where he knew no one would be.

He reverently thumbed the spines of the books he longed to own. His mother wouldn't let him buy more than one book at a time. His father had already expressed his displeasure at having a witch as a wife and a son who was a wizard, so she thought it best that they don't draw attention to it. Besides, were his father to find his ever growing book collection, they would be thrown into the fireplace in an instant.

He had decided to pass the other sections today. Too many people were crowding them, so he had dashed to his favorite section, the one devoted to The Dark Arts. He had been memorizing various curses since last summer when he had found his mothers stack of old books that she had received from her family.

His mother was a pureblood. She came from a long line of very proud wizards and witches. He was the first half blood to be born into the family and his father had been the first muggle to marry anyone from the Prince line. He didn't know his grandparents and her mother said that he never would. They had cut her out of the family when she had fallen in love with father.

His mother had tried to bring him up differently. She didn't want him to have the same prejudices that her family did; but it wasn't working. She wanted him to like muggles, to not think that they were beneath him simply because they couldn't perform magic. She didn't want him growing up thinking that simply because he could make things happen by waving a wand around that he was somehow better than them. In that one area she had succeeded. He didn't dislike muggles simply because they couldn't do magic, no, his reason was entirely different.

But he wasn't going to dwell on that now. No, he was going to look through every book once more and pick out the best one to bring home just as he always did.

…

Two hours later, his mother dragged him from the section and forced him to put back three of the four books he held in his hand. While they stood in line to pay for his things Severus peered out the window and across the alley. His face broke out into a broad smile and he shoved the book into his mother's hands. He ran out of the shop without another word and pushed his way across the alley towards the Quidditch shop where his best friend, Sirius Black, was staring open mouthed at the broom lying in the window.

"You look like a fish."

Sirius closed his mouth and gave Severus a smile, "Hello to you too. Where's your mum?"

"She's in the bookshop buying me a new book."

Sirius shook his head, "Every time you're here you buy a new book. Why don't you every get anything useful, like a broom?"

"Books are useful!" Severus said indignantly, "besides, you know my dad wouldn't ever let me have a broom. What about you? Where's your family?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and sat down at a near by bench, "My parents went down to Knockturn Alley and thankfully took Regulus with them. I refused to go down there, that place gives me the creeps."

Severus joined him on the bench and stared at him with wide, unbelieving eyes. "You turned down a chance to go to Knockturn Alley? I would do anything to go there!"

"Why?" Sirius asked disgust evident in his voice.

"Just think of all the books down there filled with information that no normal wizard knows. I know there are so many fascinating things down there, mother tells me about them sometimes at night. She doesn't want me to go down there, though. She says it is full of bad wizards."

Sirius laughed, "Of course there are bad wizards down there. That place is filled with illegal objects. I'm surprised the ministry hasn't closed it down yet."

Severus sighed, they had this conversation all the time and it always ended the same way. He decided to try and skip the fighting and change the subject.

"So, what were you staring at?"

Sirius' eyes lit up as the subject turned to something he was actually interested in. He started babbling about the new broom that was coming out called Cleansweep. To be completely honest, Severus didn't care all that much about the broom but he would rather listen to this then fight. The conversation quickly turned to Quidditch, however, and he was more than happy to join in.

He loved Quidditch almost as much as he loved reading. He hadn't had time to test his skill quite yet. His father didn't allow him to have a broom and neither did his mother. She said it was simply too dangerous for someone his age, and she didn't dare anger her father anymore.

All too soon, his mother walked out of the bookstore and beckoned him to her. Severus turned to Sirius and mumbled a sad goodbye. He didn't want to go back home just yet, in fact, he didn't want to go home at all. He wished Sirius would have invited him back to his home. His family wasn't the best but at least they didn't hate wizards.

His mother took his hand and said goodbye to Sirius. He smiled and nodded in return and yelled out, "See you later, Severus!" before going back to staring at the broom in the window.

When they walked back into the Leaky Cauldron, Severus pulled on his mothers hand once more before they stepped into the floo. "Mum, can't we stay here a little longer? Maybe we could talk to Tom a bit or get something to eat."

His mother gave him a soft smile and knelt down to look him in the eye. She kissed his forehead and explained, "We have to go home. Your father will be back from work any minute and you wouldn't want him to find out where we have been, would you? You know how angry he gets when he finds out where we are. But don't worry Severus, we will get to come back soon and perhaps you could even invite Sirius over for a night. How does that sound?"

Severus sighed and nodded his head. His mother kissed him once more on the forehead before standing up and taking his hand. This was a routine they had developed since the first time she had taken him to Diagon Alley when he was four. He closed his eyes as he stepped into the floo. He heard his mother shout the name to their home and was glad he didn't have a full stomach.

He hated the spinning, but thankfully it never lasted long. He had to hold in a scream when he opened his eyes. There, standing in front of the fireplace was his father looking angrier than Severus had ever seen him before. He was exceptionally tall at 6'8 and look like a giant to the 10 year old. His black hair was cut close to his head and his even darker eyes bored into Severus'. He could feel his mother's hand clench tightly around his and he could feel her begin to shake.

He cried out as her hand fell from his grip and he fell sideways onto the carpet. While hitting his mother, his father's hand had smacked Severus in the head causing him to fall. He looked over to where his mother was lying on the floor, blood flowing from her lips. The book he had bought was lying next to him and he quickly snatched it up and hid it beneath his shirt before his father could see it. The book would only anger him further.

His mother began to cry out as she was struck repeatedly by his father and Severus crawled into a corner and curled into a ball. He stuck his head in the space between his huddled legs and chest and tried to block out his mother's screams and his fathers yells.

Rage boiled inside of the little boy as he tried to block out the obscenities pouring from his father's mouth. He knew the hand would soon be directed at him but he didn't really care. His father could beat him until he was black and blue, but there was one thing Severus could do that his father couldn't.

Severus could do magic.

He heard the footsteps near him and he braced himself for the blow to the head that always came. Stars exploded in front of his eyes as he curled up into a ball on the floor, protecting his book more than anything else. He smiled slightly as he thought of the day he would give his father a taste of his own medicine.


	2. Chapter 2

_**And here's chapter two for you :) Please read and review!**_

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later and Severus could still feel his father's hands striking him over, and over, and over. He was lying in his bed reading the new book he had bought, <span>101 Dark Curses for the Highly Advanced Wizard.<span> Severus knew that there was no way he could do the curses at this point, but it was still nice to learn. After all, this time next year he would able to do magic. Granted, it would be supervised magic, but then again, no one had to know he did in the common room late at night.

His mother wasn't going to come and talk to him tonight; she never did after they got caught. This was a familiar routine. They would get caught, his father would go crazy and beat them, and then Severus would run up to his room so that his parents could scream and fight. His mother wouldn't come up and talk to him about 'their world' for a week or so, and then it would start again.

It was times like these, when he was doing his best to tune out his parents screaming, that he couldn't want until Hogwarts. He would be able to actually see Sirius more than once or twice a month. He wouldn't have to deal with screaming parents and the thought of all the books that would be at his disposal was enough to bring a smile to his face that would put the Cheshire cat to shame.

Severus was about halfway through his book when he could hear heavy footsteps stomping up the stairs. His father was coming to talk to him.

He quickly shoved his book under the mattress and lay back on his bed, pretending to be asleep.

Not two seconds later, his father burst into the room, almost knocking the door off of its hinges. "What were you thinking, boy, defying me again?"

'_I was thinking I wanted to get away from you,'_ he thought as he curled up into a ball on the top of his bed. He had learned long ago that it was best to stay quiet and let his father blow off some steam. It was less painful that way.

His father began pacing in front of Severus bed, his fists clenched at his sides so tightly at his sides they were as white as paper. "I have told you never to go back to that place. Why do you constantly disobey me, Severus? Do I not have your best interests at heart? For nine years I have busted my back trying to clothe you, shelter you, and raise you, despite the fact that you turned out to be one of those _freaks._ I would have suspected that you would treat me with at least a little respect!"

As his father continued to talk, Severus uncurled and stared at his father in slight shock. _'Why hadn't he started to beat me again?'_ he thought as he stared at his father, searching his brain for some possible answer. Then as he gaze passed over his father's hands once more, he understood. They were bloody and not all of it looked to be his mothers. He had hurt his hands too much already. He didn't want to hurt himself anymore.

If his father hadn't been yelling at him at the time, Severus would have laughed. But he would have to save that for later when his father _wasn't_ in the room and pacing angrily at the foot of the bed.

He held his tongue and avoided his fathers' gaze until he yelled himself hoarse and eventually left the room. The moment he heard the door to his parent's bedroom slam shut, he cursed his father and spit at the door. It was petty and somewhat childish, but it made Severus feel better. Still glaring at the door, he pulled the book out from under his mattress and began memorizing the curses with renewed vigor, imagining using each every one of them on his father.

.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

Severus woke up with the sun as he always did, cursing it for daring to shine so bright so early in the morning. He had never truly been able to sleep in and he hoped that it was something that would eventually come with age. He had always hated waking up earlier than everyone else. The house was too quiet and even the smallest noise seemed deafening against the cold silence.

Stretching his sore body, Severus rolled out of bed and stood on shaky legs. Walking over to his dresser, he didn't spare a glance at any part of his anatomy to check for bruises. He knew they were there after all, why should he need visual conformation?

After running a hand through his shorter hair, his mother had cut it two days prior and it was now a mere three inches in length, and gave a half hearted smile at the ease. A quick smelling of the underarms deemed him clean for the day and he quietly crept down the stairs, past his parent's room, and into the kitchen. He looked longingly at the fireplace, wanting nothing more than to be able to floo Sirius and stay with his family for the day.

Severus had gone over to his best friends house a number of times when his father was away on business. Sirius' family had never been too warm or welcome to him, but then again, that was to be expected. Even though he was nine, Severus was all too aware of what his blood meant in the wizarding world, something that made him resent his father that much more. But Sirius' parents, much to his surprise, hadn't kicked him out. Perhaps it was because they had overheard one of Severus' rants to Sirius about how much he hated his father and all muggles, or perhaps they respected his mother's blood so much that they were willing to overlook his regretful father. Either way, Severus didn't care; he was simply happy to be able to see his best friend and dine with one of the more prominent and respected wizarding bloodlines.

Shuffling his feet over to the cupboards, he eyed his meager choices and remembered the fine dining enjoyed at the Black household. '_If only mother had married a proper wizard, I wouldn't have to live with this,'_ he thought as he grabbed an off brand box of cereal and took a bowl out of the cabinet. He poured the honey coated rings into the bowl and added milk that looked as though it would turn sour at any moment, and stirred the contents of his breakfast with very little interest.

Two bites later and Severus was glaring icy daggers at his breakfast. The rings were stale and the milk was a bit to chunky for his tastes. He poured the rest down the sink and walked over to what his mother liked to call 'the family board.' It wasn't much, just a standard chalkboard with a list of things needed. He grabbed the chalk that hung on a string attached to the board and wrote in his almost illegible scrawl _milk and cereal._ He stared at his handwriting a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

His father had always called it chicken scratch and claimed he couldn't read a word of it. Severus had learned to write at the primary school for muggles when he was young and while he excelled at spelling and arithmetic, he always received low marks in penmanship. He remembered being brought into his teachers room late one afternoon and having to sit through a parent teacher conference about his horrible handwriting. He had been five at the time and had found the situation hilarious. His mother had even caught him smirking whenever his teacher would complain about his "rushed and horrible style," secretly enjoying the fact that few could discern his unique scrawl. While the subsequent beating wasn't something Severus looked back on fondly, it had certainly been something he marked as one of his favorite memories.

He let go of the chalk and let it hang freely on the wall, occasionally making faint marks on the wallpaper. He leaned against the kitchen counter where his empty bowl now lay and found he had no desire what so ever to put it in the sink. As he stood there contemplating the pros and cons of such an action, a faint whisper met his ears. He looked around, forehead scrunched in confusion, as he tried to identify the source of the noise.

His face lit up into a bright smile when he looked over at the fireplace and there, engulfed in green flames, sat Sirius' head. He glanced at the hallway leading out of the kitchen, checking for any sign of his parents, and walked over to the fireplace. He knelt in front of his friend and asked, "What are you doing? I didn't think you woke up until half past noon."

Sirius laughed quietly and shook his head. "Not today. My mum and dad left early this morning and wanted to tell me goodbye, then I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Where did they go?" he asked curiously.

"Who knows?" Sirius replied nonchalantly, "They are always going to one thing or another. I think there is something going on down at the ministry where dad works. Either way, they didn't take Regulus unfortunately."

Severus shook his head and extended his sympathy. While he found nothing personally wrong with Sirius' younger brother, his best friends loathing of his younger brother was no secret.

"So," Sirius said after a small pause, "do you think you could hop over for the day and save me from the impending boredom?"

"I don't know," Severus began, "my father is already angry at me and mum. I don't think he would like the idea of me spending the day with you."

"Oh come on Sev," Sirius said, beginning to pout, "I'll let you grab a couple books from our library if you come over."

Severus' glared at his best friend, knowing that his decision was now made. He was never able to pass up an offer to look through the Black's library, something that Sirius was all too aware of. Sighing loudly he agreed and after going back over and writing a message on the chalk board for his parents, _I'm going out to the park with David and I'll be home later,_ he ran through the green flames of his fireplace completely unaware of his father walking up right as he passed through.


End file.
